British drivers journey from humble roots to become successful driver have been dazzling one
Lewis Hamilton kisses the trophy on Sunday. - AFP
Abu Dhabi: From anonymous middle England to a life of fabulous riches, a rock star girlfriend, a scarlet red private jet and now, on Sunday, a second Formula One world title.
Lewis Hamilton’s journey from his humble roots to become Britain’s most successful racing driver enjoyed another surge on Sunday when he extinguished the title challenge of Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg in the season-concluding race in Abu Dhabi.
This second title followed his maiden drivers championship in 2008 for McLaren.Born on January 7, 1985, Hamilton never had any doubts about where his future desires would take him once his influential father Anthony brought him a remote-control car.Hamilton senior recognised that his son’s childhood passions could translate eventually into a dazzling career he remortgaged the family home and took a string of jobs to fund the youngster’s passion.
They were the roots of a fortune which has now yielded an estimated £68 million, a romance with pop singer Nicole Scherzinger as well as the modern-day confirmation of having ‘made it’ 2.46 million Twitter followers.When he was just 10 years old, Hamilton, never one to lack self-confidence, famously approached McLaren team principal Ron Dennis and and told him: “I want to race for you one day. I want to race for McLaren.”
Three years later, McLaren and Mercedes-Benz signed him to their young driver programme and he has not looked back. Titles in karting, British Formula Renault, Formula Three and GP2 championships paved the way for a seat with McLaren in 2007.One year later, he was, at 23, the youngest world champion in history after a dramatic fifth-place finish in a rain-soaked, chaotic Brazilian Grand Prix allowed him to write his name into the record books with victory by one point.
( Source : AFP )
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